Today in Central Illinois

Enjoy a hayride and hotdogs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Sommer Park, 6329 Koerner Road, Edwards. The cost is $6 for ages 11 and up, $3.50 for ages 3 to 10 and $25 maximum for an entire family.

College theater

The Eureka College production of the 1920 science fiction play "R.U.R." (Rossum's Universal Robots) opens at 7:30 p.m. at Pritchard Theater. Tickets cost $7 and $3 for students. The performance runs through Nov. 4.

Let's eat

An all-you-can-eat walleye or half chicken dinner will be served from 5 to 8 p.m. at American Legion Post 979, 4501 S. Airport Road, Bartonville.

Compiled by Debbie Ford of the Journal Star

On this date

In 1735, the second president of the United States, John Adams, was born in Braintree, Mass.

In 1885, poet Ezra Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho.

In 1938, the radio play, "The War of the Worlds," starring Orson Welles, aired on CBS. (The live drama, which employed fake breaking news reports, panicked some listeners who thought the portrayal of a Martian invasion was real.)

In 1944, the Martha Graham ballet "Appalachian Spring," with music by Aaron Copland, premiered at the Library of Congress in Washington, with Graham in a leading role.

In 1945, the U.S. government announced the end of shoe rationing, effective at midnight.

In 1961, the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb, the "Tsar Bomba," with a force estimated at about 50 megatons.

In 1961, the Soviet Party Congress unanimously approved a resolution ordering the removal of Josef Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb.

In 1975, the New York Daily News ran the headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead" a day after President Ford said he would veto any proposed federal bailout of New York City.

In 1979, President Carter announced his choice of federal appeals judge Shirley Hufstedler to head the newly created Department of Education.

In 1984, police in Poland found the body of kidnapped pro-Solidarity priest Father Jerzy Popieluszko, whose death was blamed on security officers.

In 1995, by a razor-thin vote of 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent, Federalists prevailed over separatists in a Quebec secession referendum.